Fish & Chips by Madeleine Urban, Abigail Roux

were supposed to play, even though he"d spent most of the morning griping. It was certainly a far cry from who he really was.
    “What would you like to see, darling?” he asked, the British accent back in full force.
    A gentle tug on Ty"s arms had him arching back enough that Zane could nip at his throat. “Something that will get you noticed,” Zane murmured before he bit down and then licked over the abused skin.
    “You know how much I like that.”

    Fish & Chips | 67

    Ty laughed even as he tried not to lose his balance and take them both down. “You hate that,” he corrected wryly.
    Pursing his lips, Zane made a noise of agreement. “I suppose what I really like is seeing people covet you and knowing you"re mine.” He nipped at Ty"s earlobe before he released Ty"s wrists. “Go on then.”
    Ty snorted, smiling almost sadly as he met Zane"s eyes. He sort of wished Zane meant it, rather than saying it as part of the character he was supposed to be playing. But wishing would get him nothing but heartbroken, and they had a case to concentrate on.
    “We can do this,” he assured them both in a low voice.

    THE itineraries told them which classy restaurant they were expected at for which meals, so picking a place for lunch the next day was a decision they didn"t have to make. Zane made a quick study of the finely appointed dining room—also decorated in greens and golds for the holidays—as the hostess led them to a table seating four other diners. That would leave two empty seats besides them, and they"d be able to socialize with relative ease. Zane pulled out a chair and nodded for Ty to sit down. His lips twitched as he watched Ty and waited for the show to start. Zane didn"t intend to stay quiet, but he definitely imagined “Del” as the bigger talker of the two.
    Ty glanced at him and gave him a wicked grin, silently saying
    “watch this” as he sat down in the seat Zane had picked for him. Zane wouldn"t consider Ty an attention whore, but he definitely didn"t mind having the spotlight either. In another life, he probably would have made a great actor.
    Ty greeted the other diners happily, smiling widely at them and receiving the same sort of warm response Ty always got when he turned on the charm. This was a whole new level of charisma, though, uninhibited and unfettered by Ty"s usual tough-guy image. Zane didn"t try to hold in the amusement or the smile—no reason to. He sat down, a bit back from the table so he could prop one arm on the edge and 68 | Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux

    casually cross his long legs, and rubbed his hands together a bit. They were dry from the bit of ubiquitous hand sanitizer he"d gotten from a dispenser when they got out of the elevator.
    Ty made a production of introducing them to the rest of the people at the table, receiving the names of their fellow diners in return.
    It was, after all, part of their job to identify the short list of names they"d been given. Two names, to be precise: Vartan Armen and Lorenzo Bianchi, the other two major players of the smuggling ring besides Corbin Porter. Zane certainly didn"t expect to go through the list of a few thousand passengers one by one, but they had to start somewhere. Lunch was as good a place as any.
    “And how is everyone this afternoon?” Ty asked them grandly as he reached over and took Zane"s hand in his beneath the table. They weren"t being overly obvious with public displays, simply because Ty had claimed it lacked class to be all over each other all the time. So far they had managed to exude merely a subtle closeness that was all too familiar, the same kind they shared when in private. If Zane"s eyes happened to linger a little longer while watching his “husband”… well, who would blame him? Even with the garish blond hair, Ty was striking.
    Ty continued to chat idly with the others, asking about their favorite things to do on board, including the Christmas parties throughout the cruise, and places to visit